11 Data Handling The main objective of research is to gather data that can answer your research question. But what is data and how should you handle it after you have collected it? There are both practical and legal issues to be considered. The present chapter provides guidance for effective data structuring and handling, to ensure that you do not lose your valuable data or let it fall into the wrong hands! 11.1 What Is Data? When we refer to the term data it covers a very broad palette of information. It constitutes every little piece of information you gather with the purpose of answering your research question. It can obviously consist of text files or spread sheets, but it could also be photos of experimental set-ups or clinical imaging data such as X-rays or scan data. Data may come in digital form or in hard copies. Maybe you have asked a group of study subjects to complete a questionnaire, this could be online or as a physical form. Collecting data is often very straight forward, but it is important to consider the specific handling of the data, both short-term and long-term, before you start. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 P. Agger et al., A Practical Guide to Biomedical Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-63582-8_11 91